


King of Hiding

by EmiBabble



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Child Neglect, M/M, Mutual Pining, Past Child Abuse, Period-Typical Homophobia, Running Away, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2018-11-28 05:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11411625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmiBabble/pseuds/EmiBabble
Summary: Jonathan Crocker the heir to the formidable kingdom of Prospit runs away from his safe prison of a home and finds a new life under a new name.Dave Strider the worker of a blacksmith shop in the small dainty village of Derse needs a change of pace and wants to run away, but he's too scared.Maybe if the hide behind each other they'll find they aren't that different.





	1. Little town, Little people.

**Author's Note:**

> a quick explanation of the story and character settings~~
> 
> Jonathan Crocker (John Egbert later on)- the 18-year-old trouble making Prince of Prospit. After his mother died his father lost all spark in his eye and all mercy in his heart and takes his troubles out on his three kids Jonathan being the worst of them all. After years of his abuse, Jonathan runs away from the kingdom looking for a new life
> 
> Jadeline Crocker- the younger sister in the Crocker household at 16 years, She idolized her brother Jonathan and took a liking to his rebellious ways, but was scared by her fathers out lash into suffering silently as her brother suffered.
> 
> Jane Crocker- the oldest sister of the Crocker household at 20 years, she wishes the best for her sibling but doesn't know how to show it. She was the model sister for the two younger siblings and took charge taking place as the mother figure for them both as their father was in no way a healthy role model for the two.
> 
> Dave Strider- An 18-year-old blacksmith apprentice under the wing of his neglectful brother. He never liked his life in the small town of Derse but said brother is forcing him to stay home and run the business. no matter how hard he tries his brother would pull him back by the collar of his shirt.
> 
> Rose Lalonde- twin sister of Dave Strider. She runs a successful fabric shop in derse and lives quite peacefully, she's a stickler for knowledge and Dave comes to her when in need of some control over his thoughts or a new outfit. often question or accused of being a witch with her odd abilities but her careful planning keeps her safe.
> 
> that's all the important characters for now but either way, enjoy King of Hiding (also there will be a tremendous amount of art made for the story once I can get the opportunity to actually draw it, so I'll update you once I get the chance.

You are the heir of Prospit Jonathan Crocker and you are free. As of right now, you mean. You, ‘the kings screw up of a child' have run away. You've Been gone for what you could only assume to be three or four days and you left right on your twentieth birthday and right now the army (or lack thereof) have only just found you. At the moment you're being chased by two knights and you need to make a break for it because you can't stay in Prospit forever.

In your kingdom, the royalty is everything perfect, which is why you never want to see it again. Behind the yellow and white walls, curtains, floors, outfits, streets, houses and anything you could name, always so clean and elegant. They have sent you to misery. Behind your father's closed doors the civilians would never know what torment you been dragged through. Your father wishes you were as spoiled and presentable as your sisters pretended to be. Every single day it's just "Jonathan you're such a troublemaker." and "Jonathan You never listen to your father." "Jonathan you're the heir start acting like it." "Jonathan It's preconditioned, this is the life you're given deal with it." "Jonathan be like your sisters they're both presentable like the royalty should be." "Jonathan stay in position straighten your posture, no one will like you if you're a slob." and all the other emotional and physical abuse from him, it's driven you mad. You're god knows how far away from that dreaded place now, but for some reason the person that wanted anyone but you for a son, that man that wanted nothing to do with you still has his army chasing after you.

You can't run for much longer, muscles aching and sweat is absorbing into your garments. your pursuers were still very far behind you but they were surely not got to stop running like you would hope. You leap over tree trunks and rotting logs, often grabbing hold to a branch and swinging yourself over murky bog water or soft ground that would slow your running, But one swing is nowhere near good enough to make up of the green and brown moss covered land so you're only means of escape is up.

Making the quick leap and keeping a firm grip on the sturdy branches you climb out of sight. You sit on a branch about three quarters up the tree that is so thin you will begin to wonder how it's holding your weight without cracking or bending. Looking down in able to see any guards and unable to hear the rushing of large boots through small bushes, you lean on the tree which you owe your freedom to and you sit. Pulse rushing through your ears you look down at your ankles and forearms which are exposed and see the scrapes and a few minor cuts along the sides you force a single sarcastic laugh and pray that they new exposure won't infect them. You still listen to everything around you little birds chirping wind blowing through the woods. your awareness does not betray you. Your state of mind helps you get ready as the sound of metal armor and moving leaves make you go still

"Do you see him anywhere?" Shouts a knight who you remember from somewhere. You can put a name to him... His irritable nature and blaring raspy voice, it's just on the tip of your tongue.

"No, but he must be around. I know Jonathan and he can't get away that fast... I think" states a female knight you recognize quite well.

"Well, what are you doing? Keep looking he has to be hiding somewhere" exclaims the male knight stepping closer to the tree that has granted you residence.

He looks around luckily for you the foliage of the trees around you provide very good coverage. You stealthily raise to your feet again holding on for dear life and search for anything to help you with a means of escape you calculate a probable steady path of branches that you could definitely jump from one to the next. You quickly spot and acorn that will suffice for a distraction in the tree. Leaning over stretching your fingertips you try to grab at the acorn. Your toes and fingers are shaking and your stomach is doing flips inside you, making a threat of nauseousness as it hangs in you. You're not afraid of heights in the slightest but having a shaky grip and stretching over a stupendous drop that could easily lead you to your death or even worse your capture, would honestly make anyone feel queasy.

You barely grab ahold of the acorn and hastily squat back to the thin branch making you feel at ease. You stand up again and arch your arm back launching the object farther than expected, but in honesty, you can't complain and it serves better for you. You listen and the seed bounces through the trees and rustles the leaves and the knight beneath you rushes of to confirm his suspicion. So you take the chance you take your beginning stance as far off the branch you can get and make a grand leap of faith, oddly enough in this life or death situation you can do nothing but smile while you brace for your landing.

You lessen your distance with the next tree a little sooner than intended but still grab on only suffering a bit of pain in your ribs on contact that would result in bruises in an hour or so (Presuming you live that long) and you scurry up and away like a mouse being chased by a cat. You jump again actually landing on your feet and almost instantly jumping up to your next destination, the forest is beginning to clear and a gravel path becomes visible through the plant life and with your final leap you land not very gracefully onto it. New scrapes on your knees as well you'll need to worry about. You stand up and stretch out your limbs and let out a groan. 

Your cloak is readjusted and the dirt is barely wiped away with your best efforts and you jog your way up the path. Your loose dark wine coloured hood covers a comfortable amount of your face and it flows gracefully as you make your way away from the woods and the sun begins to set ever so slowly.

The dust and gravel road which you continue your march upon coats the brown leather boots in a lighter tan colour of dust and the rocks scuffs their soles. The weather is colder as you left during the near end of fall. Chattering is heard from the market town as you approach the rural area quite different from what you're used too, The quaint shops and inns are very small and comforting. Resting on a stool near an old wooden building an old man and two boys much younger than him softly sing and pick at their stringed instruments nearby a very young girl sways back and forth to the sweet sound and you walk by them, you slow down and share a faint smile with the three and the older man has a glowing look in his eye and you make eye contact. It confuses you, to say the least, and you stop, But he then picks up a conversation.

“Are you lost?” the old man asks his instrument gets laid down slightly. a smile accentuating the wrinkles in his face which end up making you feel much more welcome to this new place as he reminds you of someone from home.

“No? ...Actually, I don't know if I’m lost… I feel like I’m looking for something I guess you could say…” You reply and the old man looks at you more intently.

“What do you mean ‘you guess?’… You're certainly new here.” He laughs “No one ever comes here unless they know what they want and once they get it they're out as quick as they came in” The old man states and a low and faint laugh comes from him.

“Well, you never know something could be worth coming here for.” You reply light-heartedly, letting out a large sigh.

“Well, good luck finding it here, nothing good is here.” He states bitterly “We’re miles and miles away from any town that can supply us with anything useful, the town is so small I can tell you everything about anything and everyone it in less than a few minutes… I could go on.” The old man sighs and picks up his instrument again but pauses for a small moment and looks at you again “But if we have anything… the people here are… the most interesting you'll ever meet. When the world is against you, you need to pull together to stay safe, and we do a mighty fine job at that.” He smiles down at his instrument and begins to play a soft melody signaling the end of the peculiar conversation.

“Huh..." This town may have a bit more depth than you first thought. What could anyone have against this small town, it appeared so nice, were you wrong about it? You bid farewell to the old man and the two boys and take a few steps farther into the town, but pause and think for a moment then quickly run back. You reach into your bag and dig you a good amount of money and put it into their cup they had laid out and they all give their thanks as you walk off again.

~~~

You're beginning to see what the man meant by nothing being here as you look around and see all the shops in the town square the all varied in different saturated bold colours. You walk by and admire them all and read off the signs to each one in your head.

“Grim and Proper” The sign has a pair of scissors, a needle and thread and a piece of fabric. It seemed to be a store for clothing and material almost strictly using dark colours like purples, greys, and blacks and maybe having a singular box for other colours.

“Rusting future” Assuming by the eyes and hand imagery this seemed to be fortune telling business along as a place of religious practices besides Christian beliefs as that would be held at the church nearby, through the red stained glass you could see tarot card and different items related to the building's purpose.

“Watery Grave” The sign had a bed on it with a few stars and a moon surrounding it. It was certainly a very poor choice of name making you think of murky unknown waters that frighten you but this seemed to be the inn. It's covered in blue and purple underwater themes and makes you wish you won't have to stay there, with all due respect for their craftsmanship and creativity, it just put you at unease.

“Mirror mechanics” the sign had two pairs of hammers and nails and other building materials which made this building undoubtedly the construction and mechanics building the nicknacks in the window range from all sorts of things you've only ever seen once before. They all ranged from advanced music boxes to automatic machines. A quite impressive inventory for this diminutive area.

“Claws clinic” a simple bandage was all that was in the sign and the windows were covered with green curtains so you couldn't see in for quite obvious reasons this was the only clinic that seemed to be in the town and it was so small major injuries were probably impossible to be treated in such a confined area, so this was probably a place to buy simple medications. Someone stands by the door, it's a girl with hair to her shoulders. She waves at you and you wave back.

A few houses down which you assume to just be people's homes appears a stable called “the archer's stead” and it was not only horses that could be bought here, you could buy multiple types of bows, arrows, and projectile weapons

And lastly a sign made of metal was the final building of interest, but before you could read it the sound of horses galloping and gasps from the edge of the square draw your attention back.

Knights with bright yellow clothing march into view on white horses both wearing extravagant armor. You know who these people are and you scurry away behind the closest building before they can see you but you still listen in, they were the knights who chased you.

The first to speak is Karkat a certainly intimidating specimen if you don't know him like you do with a constant loud angered voice he is quite jarring, but you know better you known him since he was knighted and have grown quite close and have heard stories from him that changed every opinion you first formed of him. He was a romantic sap and he was easily aggravated; as if that wasn't hard to tell. But now he speaks with a new coldness in his voice.

“Attention everyone!” His voice sounding loud despite not having raised it “ If you could all pay attention, please. The heir of Prospit has been missing for the past few days, he was last seen in the forest headed in the direction of this town you may all already know him by name but his image along with description have been posted all over town. Now, if anyone has information on the heir we must implore you to return him to Prospit immediately or if you have a small amount of information on his whereabouts please do the same. There will be a handsome reward to the one who returns him…But only if he is returned alive is he is returned dead or greatly harmed for any reason there will be a form of punishment the leaders of Prospit see fit.” He breathed out loudly and turned around on his horse and heads out the town entrance again.

“Thank you for your cooperation, the search begins as we speak so if guards from neighboring villages appear do not be alarmed… thank you” Said Latula her word sounding empty hearted. She's a female knight that was appointed a few years before Karkat, she had been the person closest to you besides one of your sisters, as she was always there when your parents or siblings were away she was quite amazing with kids and had raised you pretty damn well. She was kind, encouraging, funny and grateful for her job and it tore at you to see her this way. So distressed and sorrowful you could tell by her face she feels disappointed in herself for letting you go so easily.

After their speech chatter is heard in the town many different conversations pop up, gossip at the sake of Prospits reputation, the questions on why the heir had gone missing, all sorts. But that didn't stop you from hearing the clattering of horse steps approaching you. You jump away from your viewing position and sneak behind the house you were closest to and see a hole burrowed under the house large enough for you to fit inside, but looking in turns your stomach. The smell of rotten wood and dirt, plus the knowledge of spiders and other insects have taken home here as well, but not knowing where or how many makes your hair stand up and your spine to shiver, but it's the discomfort for a little while or being brought back home to a very disapproving family. You decide on the wonderful hiding hole.

You lay on the ground back side up and slide your way in feet first and push yourself all the way in as far as you can go. Your head finally fits in just enough to hide from passersby. It fits just like a glove and you really don't like it, but you wait much longer than necessary anyways. You hear the two knights shouting out your name as if that would get you to come out, then you hear horses clop around, the murmuring for people walking by and the creaking of the floorboard of the person who lives in this place, you would on any other normal circumstance apologize for taking residence without their permission but right now the less anyone here knows about you the better.

All the sounds have become mesmerizing, that in your haze of exhaustion and lack of food, in this dirty and uncomfortable position you fall asleep.


	2. A New Mask

“Are you going to sit there on your ass all day and night until the bugs eat you or are you going to explain to me what you're doing?” shouts someone new.

You wake up quickly, the sudden loud sound frightening you. Forgetting your current whereabouts you tear away from the ground and jump up hitting your head of the siding of the house and you groan out in pain attempting to grip onto the damp mud. The new person laughs for a second and crouches down.

“So mister, you're stuck... under my house... alone, you don't smell like alcohol so that rules out a few options, so what? Are you crazy? Did it start raining and this was your best idea? Or are you some sort of fucked up earth fairy that just got really unlucky with your birth place?” He says cracking every joke to make you feel miserable about your situation, but before you look you stick out one hand up and keep the other rested on the ground supporting your weight and speak through gritted teeth.

“Can you just help me out of this mess!?”

“Well I don't know having a little companion stuck under my house seems pretty amazing don't you think…” He looks at you and pauses and you look back down in an attempt to pull yourself out but all you can muster is to shuffle forward a mere three inches and you realize a sharp pain in your legs and make a small cry of pain and he arches down to grab onto you “Okay, okay I'll help you” He says with a joking tones to his voice.

You grip his hand and make a mark of comparison, his hand are rough, covered in scars and calluses, also completely dried out and keeping the residue of ashes in his fingernails. While your hands are weak and soft like you never done a bit of work in your life (which is only somewhat true) and it only emphasizes the scrapes around your palm. So primped and primed that the contact of both of your hands felt out of place. You stand up groaning at the ache in your joints and muscles and you look down to scrape off the mud that's collected with the water in the air.

You actually look up now and see the boy clearly. His face is pale or at least appears that way because of the ashes that tatter his face and neck in certain places, you can't see his eyes, they’re covered with glasses, not unlike the ones you have upon your face but the glass this simply almost black blocking out any possible vision of his eyes, his hair is almost white and everything about this boy makes him appear ghostly, then you look at his clothes and see the thick tattered leather apron and the long clothing that covers all of his body with his gloves tucked in his pocket.

Once finally getting out you realize a few things. One: You are several inches taller than the guy who just helped you and he seemed both surprised and upset about it. Two: You are absolutely filthy and need a change of clothes and three: You have to explain this to this guy why you're in a little hiding place under his house, but before you can say anything he's already bursting with questions.

“Okay, I have a lot of things to question right now. Who are you? Why are you in that little hole? How big is that thing I thought you were just some sort of midget? Are you like lost and kinda homeless or something…” He stops, waiting for a response from you.

“Well, in order. I'm Jonathan, Jonathan Crocker, I was hiding from... some people I don't really want to see right now, I have no idea I'm almost completely sure that it's some sort of portal, and I'm definitely not a midget.” You reply to all of his questions, the boy seems curious and keeps his lips pursed in confusion and you continue speaking.

“and as for the house thing… um yeah, I'm kinda staying away from home and I didn't think it all through yet.” You giggle out the last part and the boy tries to sort everything out in his head and comes to a realization.

“Wait… you're the heir that went missing right?! Awesome I-” You cut him off.

“Before you do anything please I can't go back to Prospit I'm begging you, I hate that life I came here for a change… just I'll leave you some money now and I'll leave just… don't make me go back… please” You begging him to let you leave but he just stands there.

“What I was gonna say is I can have a cool illegal adventure with my new prince buddy John while in hiding” he pauses and looks at you closely “I hope you don't mind me calling you John” and he goes back to his previous stance. “, but you know I can still take up that offer of you giving me money.” He smiles and it makes you laugh a little but your heart rate still skyrocketing.

“Oh…thank you… I feel kinda stupid for doing all that now, sorry” You say. “and also sorry for like crashing under your house and stuff that's… just really weird.”

“Well not only do you feel stupid you kinda look... stupid…” He pauses and you just stare at him to see if he truly understood what he just said. “Wait! not like, I mean that you are covered in mud and your hair has a mind of its own right now.” He tries to fix his mistake once he realizes it's there while he scratches his head.

“Wow, you're… really rude.” You reply.

“Yeah… I get that a lot, sorry, but it's also rude to sleep under my house. So we're even now?” The boy pauses and you freeze in place “I'm gonna take that as a yes.” His smirk fades slightly 

“So...I'm only gonna keep your secret on one condition." The boy states and you begin to worry.

"You” He pokes at your chest. “take me on your next adventure? Wherever that may be." While you don't know why he would ever wish to tag along, you accept and don't question his motives.

"Okay now that these shenanigans are put into place, we are gonna have to change some things about you, your face is on every store, post, and wall in this town. people will know it's you from one look...you can just, uh-” He stutters as he tries to brush your hair a bit but nothing stops the long unmanageable cowlicks that cover your head. After a few seconds of fussing with it and you laughing at him getting on his tippy toes to see better, he gives up.

“Well that's not gonna work Mr. vigilante we're gonna have to cut it.” He says as his feet start going back to their normal height and he rests both hands on his hips. Stepping over to the side of the building he looks from side to side “Okay it's safe. come on… I said come on!” He gestures his arms wildly when he shouts at you and you move from your place.

He lets you in on the step of a pale grey building made mainly out of bricks and a few walls on higher levels made of a fading grey wood. He begins pushing you in once the door was open and shuts closed once again.

He looks around what seems to be a workshop and looks back to you “Okay we're gonna have to work fast and think up of a lie and an alias for you before the boss of this place comes back and wants answers.” He says somewhat nervously as he twiddled his thumbs together.

“I thought you said this was your place?” Your question. He looks at you in confusion and pauses so he can piece together a reasonably understandable explanation of his current living situation.

“Well it is, my boss is my older brother he left to get materials yesterday. Any decent enough shop is in the next town over, so we'll have a few hours to get ready. The first thing is, you need to clean up and change your clothes. There's a bath just in that room there and I'll go get some clothes to fit you.” He explains while directing you to a room near the end of a hallway under some stairs.

“Well in that case here” You hand him the money you brought with you “You're not paying for new clothes yourself. You’ve given me this much so, thank you!” The boy hesitantly takes the money from your hands begins to walk out the door wearing a red cloak, not unlike your own. It's a much brighter red one and it drapes over his shoulders and the hood covers his smooth blond hair, but before he is out of range you remember something quite important you need to know about this stranger. “….Wait! You didn't tell me your name.” You shout to get his attention and the boy seemed shocked as he's already through the door and a running away from the house he turns and shouts back while still running.

“It’s Dave!” And he turns away again.

While Dave seems like such a nice person, you have no idea what use he has to take you in, you're not some sick puppy in need of taking care of. You think to yourself, but that is in fact exactly what you are, maybe. You need him to give you shelter, food, and hospitality and more and he's getting nothing out of it, but a free excuse for a trip out of town. He'd get more if he turned you in… You'll ask him when he returns, but a bath seems really nice now.

~~~

While the water is cold and unenjoyable and the bath tub is uncomfortable as all hell, being clean is oh so wonderful. You start to take notice of the scars on your hands and the ones on your ankles from rouged tree branches, twigs, and thorns. Your body still aches from running still and the smell of tree sap won't leave you even if you scrub your skin clean off. Your eyes close and you rest in the water.

Once you've dried off Dave returns with a blue Tunic, brown pants and blue shoes that match. He hands you them through the small opening in the bathroom door and you discard the red and black ones into your bag. You come out with the new clothes on, they fit quite nicely and are very comfortable holding themselves snuggle against your frame. Your hair is still really wet and it drips a little bit down your face and your back making the collar of the shirt go dark. When you pause in place, Dave seems distracted, staring into space probably, you know your sister Jade used to do that. You slide your feet on the way out trying to have him stare at you for a little less time. You grab a chair and sit stiffly and you start talking to Dave again.

“So… thank you for your hospitality,” You say awkwardly.

“It's not a problem, trust me,” Dave says calmly.

You stay silent for too long.

“But why are you taking me in? It doesn't benefit you!” You state almost angrily confused. You two only just meet, you're a fugitive and he's got a life in this town and you can't reach a damn clue on why he has already taken a liking to you.

"You don't know that," Dave said mirroring your tone. "You don't know anything about me. I have my reasons and you have yours." He begins to walk around the room "...and I assume you don't know anything about this town either. I have quite a few reasons not to mention your end of the bargain"

"So are you going to tell me or are you just going to be mysterious and cocky?" You ask making fun of his sophisticated facade anyone could see though if the even tried the smallest fraction

"Well you're stuck here for a while, you'll find out in due time" He smirks and walks behind you. you're tense and can hear probably every sound in a mile radius. The stuff and tap of Dave's shoes, creaking floor boards, cracking of wood in a furnace in the workshop, horses pattering next door and quaint ominous chatter, (most likely about you) and most noticeably Dave is humming to himself a deep calming tone.

"So step one." He rips off your thin-rimmed glasses and inspects them gasping slightly at the strength of the glass then he goes to the table and pokes them out of their frames and tosses away the wire.

"H- what are you doing I need those!?" You shout at him and he looks at you quickly backing away 

"Well you can't just get a quick hair cut and expect the town to be completely oblivious they're not that dumb, but lucky for you, they're just dumb enough..." He states and you become more weary of the Strider character he's more mysterious the expected "We have your clothes sorted out and I'll fix your glasses later, now-" 

His words mumble off and you can't exactly understand him other than a few words. A few "I could..."s and "no they'll..."s and he twirls on his heel and grabs something from a bag that he carried with him on his earlier journey.

You can't see anything as the things that grant you vision are laying on the table somewhere, but you can certainly hear and the sound of metal scraping against itself too close to your head for your liking, it makes you jump.

"What are you doing?!" You ask as calmly as an almost blind person can be while hearing unexpected threatening noises. Dave simply looks at you in confusion.

"I'm going to cut your hair.” He says obviously, spacing out his words slowly. “While that mess you have could fool someone into thinking you're a commoner when it's the heir's trademark feature, it's a risk we need to quite literally need to” He snips the scissors exaggeratively “cut out."

You simmer down again and sit down again calmly, sort of. Dave pulls thick hair straight out getting a little bit of water on his hands and makes a hesitant first cut. This continues for a while and each hair falling from your back to the floor sends chills down your spine. you get used to Dave often grabbing at you head to make you turn or he'll walk around you to see his masterpiece from a different angle. Finally, in almost over an hours time Dave backs away from you and a huff of amusement escapes from his mouth while he leans around you

"Well sir, I think I'm done" he states slowly, admiring his hours worth handy work and you brush your hands through the thick strands of hair. You turn to him still playing with it, he's leaning on his left leg and seems to be staring at you or your hair intently, you can't tell. Your hair is much shorter on the sides and layers softly at the top making is seem fuller and bouncier than before it falls in your eyes a bit less and the sideburns felt like they were cut out to make your face look almost a different shape. 

"I'll get to work on your glasses now" Dave says grabbing the lenses from the table and you simply sit tight in you chair and you wait, but Dave yells out for the other room "Can you try and clean up the hair from the floor please. my brother might be back soon and I don't want him so be too suspicious!"

"If I can manage to see my fingers well enough to grab a broom or something" You jab at him playfully and he scoffs at you bringing you a broom and you think he vaguely just pointed at the floor but the blur in your eyes begins to give you a headache. Your move ever so slowly so you don't misjudge a step and knock something over. You feel like a deer on ice and carefully make your way to the spot on the floor near the chair and see vague spots of dark matter collected there and you try to focus enough on pushing it all into one place.


	3. Blending In

You only just realize that the dusted roads have begun to be encased in nightfall after you turned the multiple blurry thick patches of almost black hair into one blurry glob on the floor. Dave finally walks back in with painted wood frames, much thicker than your old ones but they still hold the lenses well enough. You put them on, thanking God for the ability to rest your eyes and you see Dave smirking at you again. He informs you of a mirror in the bathroom and you look to see yourself. Once you can see again, you begin to feel how many things, for a lack of better words feel 'wrong'. Your head is so light that the same amount of force to move your head to the side flings your face away from you harder than planned. Your eyes look bigger and brighter with these frames because your glasses Now have a blue accent that matched your eyes almost exactly and they compliment each other well, also they even made your face look somehow more angular. Your clothes are so much tighter than the ones your dad would even yell at you for wearing if he saw you in something like this he would faint and defiantly nag you about it for the rest of his dying days.

Speaking of your father input, you've become even more of what he hated, the short rugged hair, inelegant frames resting on your nose, tight fitting clothes which he would take joy in burning... defying everything he stood for feeling heavenly, maybe this is the desire of teenage rebellion you repressed from a young age bursting at the seems, but that doesn't matter right now. Of course, you were already a torment to him and you already ran away, but this way more than you could ever ask for, you could almost hear him gasp in terror from your behavior and this felt great, your smiling widely now and almost all your teeth are visible.

"Are you okay in there?" You jump and almost rush back to Dave.

"Um yeah, thank you," You say excitedly, Dave does nothing but smirk at you.

"Well we have to get you familiar with town if you're gonna be living here, so I'll get ready and we can-" Dave starts to talk but is interrupted by the loud door slamming shut.

A new face walks in the room. He's tall more than six feet for sure, his arms are slender but defined, he wore various shades of orange, brown and black and wore similar glasses to Dave with a more peculiar shape. He held himself with more fierceness and confidence then Dave. His skin was very few shades darker than Dave's but his hair was the same milky white. This must have been Dave's brother.

"Who's this?" says Dave's brother placing down a bag on the table pulling out various items. Dave seems anxious and his fingers fidget around themselves.

"This is John... eg...Bert. John Egbert. I met him a while ago and he needed a place to stay so he's going to be here for a while." He just managed to make a cover up on-time.

Dave's brother seems calm, serious and curious about Dave's behavior, but he knows better than sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. Dave's brother scavenges around the house packing his bag which he had just emptied and informs Dave that he'll be gone for a few days time and before introductions are even properly done ... he's gone again.

Dave doesn't seem upset, he should be by all means, but you don't have the best feeling about Dave's brother. The silence between you two is awkward and Dave seems to be radiating some negative emotion you can't process and you pull him away from his voided thoughts.

"Now that I have a new face... can you show me around town... tell me what to avoid, who to talk to and such?" You grin trying to hopefully make Dave return to the person he was before him brother arrived, Dave looks up at you and stutters over the beginning of his sentences.

"Yeah... but, let's go tomorrow it's late anyways..." Dave replies emptily looking at the door frame. Your attempt failed.

 

Dave makes a vague motion with his hand and turns to calmly walk up the stairs, you follow. The stairs are small and the halls were slim, there was paint of various warm colors chipping from the walls and the grey wooden flooring has too many cracks and squeaks too much for it to be stable. Dave walked over to a closed off room with a dark wooden door and he opens it to reveal a small bed with sheets made and less than two feet to space that you could walk in. the room was covered top to bottom in intricately patterned rugs and curtains with very small bits of orange peeking out from behind them.

“You can have this room, it just a spare.” Dave drones on now missing the spark in his voice.

“Oh okay.” You head into the dimly lit room and turn to Dave, his glasses are slightly lifted up as he rubs his eyes and yawns.

“I'm going to bed,” Dave says and walks away before you get to say anything you close the door are thinking to yourself now, the room was exponentially warm, you assume that this room is over the furnace room. The room was painted in some shade of orange that's probably been faded over the years. You think about Dave and try to imagine his features again in your mind.

Dave was quite short compared to you probably around 5’6 or 5’5 and by the look on his face, he must have been upset about it. His face while rested always appeared to be displeased with someone, maybe not even someone, something? Everything? His eyes were covered with dark glass preventing you from seeing his eyes, you wonder what color they are? Blue? not blue, it doesn't suit his face like you would want, maybe a sharp brown or hazel? His hair is smoothly fluffed across his forehead and appears to be an off colour white, similar to a pearl. His arms here toned and wide for his stature, you remember the difficult work that blacksmiths went through in your peaceful town, you can only imagine the strength it takes to form weaponry or armoury. His hands were covered in ash and calluses and his nails were chipped or bitten to nubs. His skin was terrifyingly pale and only slightly darker freckles appear on his cheeks and arms. He wore a brightly coloured tunic in red and slightly tight black pants, his shoes were black with one red stripe running up the side and the boots ended at his knees. He also wore a smock made out of some thick fabric, leather or canvas or something that was also covered in dark soot and ash in the smeared shape of hands, they had a large pocket that while you've seen him, they held darkened gloves that would protect his hands while he worked.

You think of him while laying down on the bed. He has this sort of unnerving, yet comforting aura like he was a night time guard that scared you too much to let him get too close but you wanted him to stay around and protect you so he could have the same effect on the unwanted.

But no one was staying around you right now. So you mumble a sweet goodnight to yourself and you sleep.

~~~The Next Day

Dave walks weird -that's an odd way to start a thought, but he does- His back is hunched over and his legs stay further forward than his torso, but when he stands still his chest is puffed forward, his back is almost arched, his legs are forced straight and stay farther apart, he crosses his arms over his chest he stays in this perfectly intimidating pose. His walking stance makes him shorter than he already is and makes you curious of how his posture stayed that way without breaking him, of course, you can't say you don't slouch, you do, but Dave's is so excessive.

You begin to notice more things about Dave while you two walk, he's a very casual speaker, but still has a stupendously large vocabulary and a grand repertoire of non-understandable metaphors and similes, he stutters over his word when asked sudden questions he hasn't thought through in his head and almost never emotes beyond a faint smirk. 

What can you do with this information again?

"So... I'm going by John Egbert now? Where did you pull that out of?" you poke at him.

"I..uh" He stutters again " You know, I'm just a genius, master planner, an expert at deception." Dave crosses his arms confidently.

"It's because you brother had eggs in his bag isn't it?" You smile wildly waiting for a response.

"..." He stays silent "I panicked okay and, and they were just there! Either way, it doesn't matter " He blusters out quickly, clenching his arms tighter.

You almost erupt in laughter Dave pushes at your arm roughly and a faint rose pink tints his ears, once you finish laughing he explained the town and it's people quite simply and all of your blatant assumptions were quite in the nose in accuracy but as he's explaining something to you he mentions a quite important bit information in a more hushed tone.

"So far no one suspects a thing, Rose and I are the only ones who know it's you."

"Wait, you've already told someone." You whisper almost angrily, you don't want to be angry at the person protecting you.

"You don't have to worry! Rose Lalonde is my sister she's weird with her useful knowledge, if she doesn't find out through me and get a warning, she'll sneak around and stick her nose where it doesn't belong. She quite resilient. But she knows and she's keeping it a secret, the reward doesn't seem worth the trouble to her." Dave explains himself quickly, both of you let out a sigh and slack your shoulders again.

"Can I meet Rose then?"

"Where do you think we're headed, Egbert?"

You both somewhat quicken your pace and look at the gothic style shop that's presented in front of you. Dave instantly pushes in through the door, but you're hesitant.

You walk in and are welcomed by smell warm tea, herbal medicines you don't recognize, flowers and old candles. Both solid and print fabrics of various dark colours sit arranged at the further ends of the shop and waiting at the side of Dave is the girl you assume to be Rose Lalonde.

Her dress was long and covered most of her body, the only things exposed was her bright blond hair contrasted with the dark skin of her face and hands almost the colour of smoky quartz gems that you saw in decorations when you were younger. The dress was all black except the dark violet strips of fabric that held tightly around her wrists, neck, and waist with two long pieces flowing to the floor. She looks at you with sharp purple eyes and smooth shades of burnt umber and smoky greys decorating her eyes making them seem that much stronger. Her desk which she stood at had many books and pages upon pages of writing scattered across them in a perfect mess like a tree being held up by a single twig, where if anything moved in the wrong way it's would crumble in on itself, but she seemed well in control of the storm. Her stance was calm and welcoming and a smile was bright behind her coal black coloured lips.

"Hello, Jonathan Crocker." Her voice calm and welcoming, but you feel nauseous when she uses your previous name for multiple reasons. It's your family's name and you've come to associate it with your past now, No one is supposed to know who you are you feel like your privacy's been breached and the use of your full name never felt right coming out of someone's mouth even when you were still in prospit.

Dave corrects her "Actually Lalonde, this is no Jonathan Crocker, this is the new and improved John Egbert," He says almost proudly admiring his handy work, again. 

Rose looks at you curiously and scatters through her papers and find one with large red letters you didn't have time to read. She folds the paper in half vertically, holding it up to cover one-half of your face and studies it longer than you're comfortable with, which in honesty was as soon as she put paper right next to your face, popping the little bubble of personal space you had.

She hums to herself and steps back to her desk.

"Well Dave, I would have to say you did a fairly good job covering his appearance but he still looks like a Crocker..." She pauses and pokes her cheek with her finger, and she flicks to her desk and writes down a list of random words, she folds two pieces of paper together and hands it to you. You take it, but you can't be bothered to read thoroughly at the moment.

"If you follow these steps you should be able to fool this whole town that you're not royalty." She says happily, content with her work "Your new clothes will be taken care of here and you don't have to worry about paying, I can assure you Dave's story is similar enough to mine that you won't need to hear it again." She starts walking to the back of the story and you stay with Dave, you still don't understand, Dave still hasn't given you his story yet. Her heels click on the burgundy wood flooring and she yells out again "Run along now, people are going to start getting suspicious of you!"

You and Dave both leave and he keeps mostly quiet on the way back, nothing but hums and clicks of his tough are heard over your insistent muttering as you review the list written in impressively clean cursive. Some things about exercising to change your body shape, staying out in the sun to darken your skin as much as you can, and a note on staying close to Dave

Almost all of them made a little bit of sense to you and they could all be easily accomplished and with the utter fear of Rose, whatever you don't understand you'll just abide until a reason comes forth or she tells you.

You look at a second page Rose gave you. It's your missing poster. They really were searching for you. You look at the picture, it was, by all means, a nice picture but you still didn't like it. It brings back bad memories you've been trying to blur from your mind while stumbling over your own feet said memories flood into you and you feel... lost again. And te world around you falls.

All you can hear are echoes of footsteps and the floor reflecting a blurred image of the object above it and you... you? what do you do? Do you panic? Do you run again? You can't see that well through your own thoughts, they're all so big, they're all beginning to pour out your eyes. Your oldest sister Jane is yelling at you, you father is yelling at you, Jade is yelling at him... everyone is yelling.

Dave is yelling at you.

"John. John! Hey! don't die out on me, hey! John?!" He grabs your hand for a second and you look at him tears are welling up around you. You can see again but the burning tears in your eyes make it hard to see and the lumps in your throat making it hard to breathe. Your walking alongside Dave and the house is close by. He slips an arm around your waist and you’re comforted by the warmth. He tries to support your weight on him and it lets you go back in your mind, but no! You want to go back to Dave again, your blurred vision takes hold of you again. He shakes your shoulder and this time you're back in his home. What earlier today took about ten or fifteen minutes to walk felt like seconds but those seconds felt like hours... if that makes any sense.

You're sitting on a chair and Dave is looking at you through the dark glass on his face. "Hey, are you okay?...Maybe this was a bad idea? We should have waited a few days for the buzz to die down. You must have been too nervous," Dave ran his hands over his face in a shameful way. "Everyone was probably on guard for a new face around, oh god! I could have fucked up this whole thing, I-" You interrupt.

"Dave" You're breathing fast like you sprinted all the way home and have been trying to catch your breath "are you okay? It's okay if it was a mistake. We've all made mistakes and look! I'm here! We're fine" You've never had to encourage and comfort anyone like this, in fact, you only ever seen it happen once. It was you and your sister once when you were both really small and she started to take a liking to your rebellious behavior, this was a good memory for you.

~~~

You and your sister Jade were running around the castle way past your bedtime. At the time you were about fourteen and Jade was probably twelve or thirteen at the time. Both of you were wearing shaggy clothing and had hair pointing every which way, completely knotted up. You both snuck out into the garden area that night, you both flailed your arms and went back and forth running around wildly, a few flowers were a little trampled from what you remember but you were too focused on how happy your sister was. She was smiling wide, buck teeth just like your own shining in the moonlight, pupils grew so wide the green ring around them turned small and glowed with joy. You both laughed and made silly faces at one another.

Afterwards, you both sat by a tree and looked at the stars once you were tired it was calming seeing them between the tree branches as warm coloured leaves fluttered down to the ground a few times. You remember Jade saying something's to you.

"Jonathan?" She asked before taking in a large breath of air like it was her last.

"Yeah" You responded, doing the same.

"Are...you happy here? In the castle with us, I know dad is mean to us sometimes and we all really miss mom, but... do you really want to run away?"

"Uh who said I wanted to run away? Of course, I like it here-I" You choke up a little, over you own obvious lies.

"Jonathan don't change the subject," She said bitterly. You let the silence simmer and stare emptily at your shoes

You sigh "Not really... if I'm honest with you, dad seems to be the worst with me, since mom died, the piano hall has been more empty than it ever has been" Tears welling in your eyes. "and all of the painting of us are gone... and I'm just not as happy with myself anymore" She look upset as well. "I'm always the troubled one, a fool, the heir! I'm always one of those things I'm never just...Jonathan Crocker" Tears are streaming now and you grasp onto your rouged clothing and Jade looks at you and grabs your hand tightly.

"Oh Jonathan it's okay, I'm here! look at me," Her face is a little red either because the cold is biting at her face of the fact that you're both crying. You look up, eyes opening wide, bloodshot and feeling sore already. Jade's hand slides across your face.

"Things will get better, I don't know how, but I'm going to fix this, I'm gonna try and make you feel better, you're my brother." She pulls up her sleeve past her hand you wipe your tears away than her own

"Thanks, Jade." You say pleasantly, both eyes beginning to burn as the tears have started to dry up.

The next day your dad found the trampled flowers and Jade took the blame for you despite your protest. Your dad forces you both to your respective rooms and he follows Jade. You press your ear against jade's bedroom door. And you hear them fighting. This you can't remember that well it probably scared you so much your brain erased the words but what you can remember is...

You heard a slap.

Followed by silent sobbing.

You coward to you room in tears.

You don't like this part of the memory.

~~~

You look at Dave again. He's staring at you wide-eyed, you can see very vague shapes of his eyes behind the glass. Without breaking eye contact Dave sits down.

"It's Okay, we're okay," You say softly. Dave sighs out and leans back in his hand sitting on the cold floor.

You laugh at little.

"What are you laughing at? We both just had a breakdown, are you crazy or something?" He says confused kicking softly at your foot, but he still smirks at you.

"Well... both of our lives have done a full turn on us." You say while stretching you back across the chair you smile again at looking brightly at him, the corners and edges of your eyes a bit more red than usual.

"Look we both needed a change in our life so you just accepted a wanted member of quote-unquote 'royalty' and were just incredibly casual about everything!" You laugh and he smiles wider at you "If anyone here is crazy it's you."

"Nope, I'm completely sane, got no problems here." Dave lies.

"Oh most definitely, every sane person takes in run always and gives them a whole new identity" You Joke.

"Says the person who ran a good three thousand miles to get some peace and quiet and decided to stop in crazy town, just north of coo-coo village" Dave jokingly pushed your shoulder, you laugh.

"Ah ha! So you admit, you are crazy!" You point at him and laugh louder.

"Well have you ever thought... shut up" He points both hands at you and smiles while tilting his head.

You both smile and laugh like you've known each other for years. it's a really nice feeling.


	4. A Willing Form Of Solitude

You and Dave both try to forget about that day. You almost worry that the tears that dropped onto your clothes would stain.

You follow Dave’s advice and stay in the house for around three days for the buzz to fall, you didn't really intend on talking to Dave, you wished to have stayed inside and written in your book, but fate certainly had other plans for you and Dave stayed by you the whole time.

On the first day you wake to the smell of food cooking on the stove, since you been eating near to nothing for borderline a week you bolt out of bed and skip down the steps and head your way to the kitchen, Dave is in much cleaner clothes then then that past two days and his hair is as messy as yours was the day he found you. You walk closer to him and lean your hand on the kitchen counter and hoist yourself up.

“What are you making?” you mumble tiredly.

“Bacon, eggs maybe toast if I don’t get too frustrated with it,” Dave says shoving a piece of burnt bacon into his mouth and moving the hot pan away from the wood stove and pouring the remains onto a plate. You look at the bacon that he's made and you are not very ecstatic for your first meal so before he burns more food you ask him,

“You mind if I give a try at making the eggs?”

“My god yes, take this pan away from me before I burn down the house!” you laugh as he steps away quickly and you take his place as he sets out dishes on the table. You enjoy being able to have an actual meal that wasn't stale three day old bread or berries you found in the forest, food had really been the least of your worries when you left and you had hoped to come across a town sooner than you did, staying the night at some shabby inn and, well, not a forest.

Dave stays forcibly silent as you both eat and once finished he stays at the table and you leave so the silence can have an excuse to stay but Dave in a way ruins that plan by piping up once your step to the stairs.

“It was uh...really good.” he gulps nervously. “Thanks.” 

You can't scrape your brain for a serious tangible sentence so you just smile brightly and make a small pleased “it's no problem” and cower under your sheets for the rest of the day, only sneaking down for a snack so could avoid having a meal with him again

 

 

The second day Dave keeps the shop closed and works on his own side projects in the living room of the house. Dave had paper all on the floor and table than the one singular large canvas was held on an easel and various types of paints and pencils scattered everywhere similar to the way Roses desk was held together. 

You walk by him, book in hand and write down what you see. He's wearing loose fit clothing (probably his pajamas) made of various shades of dark pinks and purples with vertical white stripes decorating the lighter pink around his neck with similar patterns on the ends of the sleeves which are rolled up to his elbows. You also note the one white swirl gracefully resting horizontally around his back and bending into curls around the front of his waist. He was sitting on a tall worn out wooden stool that's covered in different dull shades of grey, red and oranges, his pale hands delicately held multiple pieces of sketched paper next to a canvas with various faces and object drawn on them, Dave crumples one drawing and in a huff of aggravation throws it to the floor and rubs vigorously at his face. You can see his glasses are rested on the top of his forehead instead off his nose and your earlier curiosity reoccurs and all you wish for in this moment is to rush over and turn him around while you have a chance, but he pulls them back down before you take the impulsive action it's almost frustrating.

On the third day, you two actually speak a little having a topic of conversation because Dave walks in on you analyzing your wanted poster in your room.

“You okay?” He asks calmly, his voice low and a little bit raspy as it was quite early in the morning. He chews on an apple as he waits for a response

“Yeah...I guess. it's just weird to think that this was what I actually look like” Your statement was only partially true, the truth was you were thinking about Prospit.

“Yeah. don’t worry, you’ve changed a lot though.” He responded. Words slurred from the mouth full of food. He sits down of a small chair that rested near the wall of your room. He slouched over and rested his elbows on his knees and you turn to him sitting on your knees on the used bed.

“Sorry if this is kinda rude to ask, but how did you get out of Prospit? Wouldn't it be super guarded up and especially since you're, you know. You.” He asks then takes another bite of the apple.

“Well it’s really wasn't easy the first few times I tried I got caught somewhere in town but that was when I was a lot younger and didn't know how a lot of things really worked and getting caught didn't mean much.” You laugh at your next statement. “I usually told them that I was sneaking out and having an affair or tried to get my hands on some alcohol. Both lies I just wanted to get my dad really mad and have that town talk trash about him.” Dave also laughs a little.

“Wow, I can hear the fresh gossip now.” Dave jokes.

“Yeah, but as far as methods go, through trial and error you get to know all the guard's paths. The all stay pretty much the same except on weekends they become a lot looser, and I knew one guard that could take a good bribe for his silence and one who was always so drunk that I could have a full of conversation about how I'm sneaking out and he wouldn’t even care. Now that I think about it I think I did” you giggle.

“Oh my god all I can picture is ‘Oh hey where are you going, prince?’” Dave imitates a slurred drunk accent. “Oh yeah, I’m running away forever. see you never!” He imitates your voice making you snicker. “Okay bye, I'll be here.” Dave acts drunk again. “ and then the next day you're gone and he's just like ‘oh darn I wish I'd have seen him somewhere’” Dave laughs to himself.

“I'm pretty sure that's exactly what happened” you both sit there laughing there for a while.

“So,” Dave begins. “You’re out of the castle. Whats next?”

“Okay, um I get some of my friends in the castle and the kingdom's well-known delinquents of the town to cause a distraction for me and they promised to leave the city and we would all meet up after a year or so. They all made a plan so the guards would have their hands full. Kanaya, Terezi, and Tavros where some of the workers I've befriended, they had most of the inside work done, distracting guards in conversation and reporting a crisis that some of the others caused. Vriska and Gamzee some well-known thieves tried to ransack the town a little, not that they really needed an excuse, they probably were going to do it anyways. But while the kingdom was going to chaos, I scaled the city walls and hid in the forest for about four days eating berries, weird plants and whatever I had packed which had luckily just ran out the day after I got here.”

“So I'm guessing when you'd taken a break in the forest the two knights that came her the day you did, had just about caught you, and you made a break for it and you were near this place when they were leaving town?” Dave asks finishing the apple he was holding.

“Yep and the rest is history.”

“Wow, man if I wanted to leave I could just pack my bags and go, then figure it out as I went, and I was still too scared to do it.” Dave stood up. You wonder what he meant by that. “You have some serious courage there John,” he says as he walks out. You shout out a thank you and you hear him match down the small steps.

 

Out of the blue on the fourth day, Dave says that the talk of the town has changed and you could leave if need be so he offers you to go walk around town with him. This time he talks knowing it will keep you both distracted. He talks about a lot of things from his past how him and rose acted when they were kids, the time both their guardians got incredibly drunk when a pub had opened for the first time. A lot of charming stories like that, he probably wants to know about your past but he treads lightly around the subject. He can probably detect the discomfort from you, so he talks about the future.

“So what are you going to do once you leave?” Dave asks. It reminds you that you will have to leave eventually, the knights will find you if you don't. But this place already feels like a much better home than the dreaded castle or the woods where you would have to sleep in tall grass and bushes. 

“I don't know… run again… then again… forever” You say dimly.

“Let me rephrase. What do you want to do?” Dave asks again and you think about it.

“Well I would want to find a nice house, a permanent one for sure and I don't know… I’d get a dog! Those are cute, I'd start playing the piano again, work at a bakery, but yeah. I guess I'd just see where life took me you know.” You reply simply, you can imagine a simple life. A nice house, you’d have a room for your piano, a big dog covered in fur, you wouldn't even use it for hunting. It seems nice, you'd have to visit Dave a lot… or he could come with you! He wants to leave with you on your next adventure anyways so why not. You could live together.

“Woah you played the piano? You bake? What else don't I know about you?” Dave says surprised.

“Well I would guess a lot,” You say in a joking tone. “I've only known you for four days. And I can count the amount of conversation we've had on one hand.”

“Oh yeah, so what should I know Egbert?” Dave asks, you really like the name John Egbert you feel like it just flows better, even if its origin is quite stupid.

“Well I just turned eighteen a little over a week ago, I can fall asleep literally anywhere-” Dave cuts you off.

“I should have guessed, you fell asleep in a hole under my house.” Dave states.

“Oh trust me I've done worse, let see” You count off on your fingers. “I've fallen asleep in... a bathtub, a dining hall chair, some sort of flower bush, and considering that my clothes were torn across the back and I had cuts with grass stains around them it was probably roses.” Dave bustles out in laughter.

You watch his nose crinkled, his fingers clutched his stomach and listen to odd sounds come from his nose and throat in between laughs.

“My sisters even worse!” You exclaim.

“There is no way” He gasps for air in between giggles.

“Okay no, we were having breakfast and she just passed out and fell right onto her plate, and we spent six hours to try and get the syrup out of her hair and off her glasses.” You smile and giggle at your words, while Dave is struggling to breathe.

He continues laughing and you begin to laugh along.

“Okay, that the end of that story.” Dave straightens his posture while wiping away the tears from under his glasses and his laughs and the redness from his face slowly fade. You pause to think of other stories.

“Oh you'd be super upset about this one, I was a midget for most of my life until about three years ago I was even shorter than you are now.”

“Oh my god! That's just not fair, three years ago I was a giant to literally everyone my age!” Dave shouts.

“So what about you? You've barely spoken a word about yourself.” You ask.

“Okay, I was given dance lessons. by my brother. who can't dance. Like at all. My sister once threw me...” He pauses and looks around and point at the tree near some small dips in the ground “off of that tree and into the puddle”

“Didn't it hurt?” You question.

“No, no the puddle was super soft- Yes you idiot, of course, it hurt” He leaned his head close to yours while speaking.

“Haha, sorry, ” You said sarcastically.

“What else? you know I’m a blacksmith already, but sometimes me and my brother with try and make literally the most legendary piece of shit sword imaginable and probably fight with them currently I’m in the lead with a sword that literally snapped in half when I picked it up. It's in the house somewhere.” Dave ranted.

“Cool waste of materials, but still cool.” You say seeing that Dave felt a sort of validation when you respected his hobbies.

“So, why did you bring me out here again?” You ask.

“One you need to get some sunlight and two we need to get you a job or something, housing vigilantes doesn't pay for itself you know,” Dave says lazily.

“So what do you have in mind?”

“Well, I don't know, I was hoping for you to decide,” Dave admits.

“Why don't I get started on that bakery thing, is there one here in the village?” You ask excitedly.

“Well... yeah,” Dave tightens his shoulders. “But, you would have to get up super early and you would take a while to get there and get back… uh yeah, you should go do it I think you'd do great!” Dave changes his negative tone to a positive one mid-sentence. 

“Okay then let's go” You take a few steps forward holding onto Dave's hand with a firm grip, but you stop when Dave doesn't move with you “What?”

He points to his right and you drop his hand almost immediately after

“The bakery is that way John” Dave smiles at you and picks your hand back up.

“Oh.. right… Well let's go already” Your grip doesn't loosen and you start to pull him around like an excited puppy once in awhile his hand will shift and you fix your grip accordingly. He sometimes shouts out to you saying directions and eventually he tugs your arm sending you behind him and he looks back at you with a smirk and leads the way still not letting go of your hand and you giggle. You think Dave is your new best friend.

~~~

Dave pulls you to the door of the stone building and pushed you forward and finally, you both let go. You look back at Dave to see if he can settle your confusion

“Go on Egbert, you're a big boy now. Go on in and ask for the job.” Dave says with his arms crossed

“Well… I haven't exactly done this before, what do I do?” You ask, you feel like this is a dumb question and you hope Dave doesn't laugh, he doesn't but he steps forward to reassure your

“You say ‘Hello I'm John Egbert, I'm looking for a job here in town and I was wondering if you had any work here for me.’ if they say no, you say ‘okay thank you’ and you walk out and find somewhere else and if they say yes, you say ‘when would you like me to start’ it's as simple as that. You'll do fine” Dave explains.

“Okay, thank you.” and you walk inside repeating the words Dave said in your head, even his little line of encouragement.

The building smells… not like a bakery should, but you guess it's okay. There are three brick walls and one dark oak wall at the end of the room. On that wall stood shelves of seemingly overcooked pastries and probably stale bread and around the whole place stands short tables almost hand height covered in poorly decorated “cakes” and finally you see a man sits tiredly at the front of the place at a small desk.

“Um, excuse me,” You say. The man looks at you in confusion

“Hello!, What are you looking for?” He asks in a fake cheery tone.

“Well, Uh. Hi, I'm John Egbert, I'm looking for a job here in town and I was wondering if you had any work here for me?” You ask quickly and awkwardly, you almost worry he couldn't understand you.

“Well, I'm glad you came here when you did. since business hasn't been the best one of our head bakers quit, you don't say you could bake could you?” he asks. Yes! This is going exactly as planned.

“Why I can.” You reply. He looks around for a piece of paper and writes something down.

“Great, can you start here tomorrow?” He says sounding relieved.

“Oh! Of course, that sounds great.” You say trying to contain your joy. You feel like pure excitement is falling out of your ears, while you twiddle your fingers close to your chest.

“Okay well, I'll see you tomorrow around dawn” He states giving you a schedule hit it just a scribble of just two or three time frames with certain words saying what day you could have off. You wave goodbye to your new coworker and walk out the door smiling from ear to ear.

“So, you got the job?”Dave asks

“Yep I start tomorrow at dawn” You respond excitedly

“Well, you're waking yourself up. I don't wake up until about noon on a good day” Dave jokes... or states you can't really tell you’ll wake up on your own anyway so you have no reason to worry.

As you and Dave walk he talks about how excited he is for you to have a job and how good it is you to get out and about the town and it’s kinda weird. You would have thought he'd be at least a little upset you two won't see each other as much as the past five days. You know you'll miss it, but you understand that a job is a job and you have to put up with it for now. Dave is looking at you like he's waiting for a response, oh crap you stopped listening.

“What? Sorry, I stopped listening I was thinking about something.” You ask.

“I said. Are you excited about your job?” Dave asks again.

“Well yeah, it’s a job, that's cool… I guess I'm worried me and you will hang out less. I'm gonna be gone by the time you wake up and I come home late too, don't you think?” you ask Dave looks nervous

“I mean... yeah obviously, but we’ll still hang out on the days you're off work and I'll drop by whenever I can, it's just a job's gonna help both of us in the long run I guess and its help you get around town and learn on your own” Dave dances around the conversation.

“Yeah that’s alright” Neither of you speak for the rest of the night are you wounded if you're being less friendly now? You wonder if you did something wrong.


End file.
